Free Falling: Double Circus Bill explores physicality of grief and loss

You’ve probably never seen circus like this before in Calgary — “Free Fallling: A Contemporary Circus Double Bill” only has three show times this week at CSpace, and tickets for the show are whatever you can pay.

The performance encompasses two separate acts, “In The Fire,” and “Fish at The Bottom of The Sea.” Both shows are about processing grief and the depth of loss. One uses fire, and another uses the ocean to advance the motifs being presented in the physical work. One artist comes from eastern Canada, the other from Calgary.

Leda Davies said it was a happy accident that both shows wound up in the same place at the same time while being developed two years ago, as both shows compliment and contrast each other into what she calls “a full evening of theatre.”

Davies is the performer, choreographer and a co-creator at Screaming Goats Collective. She said the shows really incorporate a multi-disciplinary tone for presentation that includes speech, percussion, projection, dance, aerial performance, and music.

She said the manner in which they are depicting the heavy topics at hand are exploratory, but not too triggering or evocative.

“We’re approaching the subject matter through a discipline that brings up a lot of awe, it brings up a lot of wonder,” she said. “And we are doing it through the body.”

While developing her own part of the show, “Fish At The Bottom of the Sea,” Davies said she was inspired by the death of her own father, and how strange people can be when confronted in another’s loss and grief.

Davies said the idea of loss is universal and touching, but you don’t need to be going through something to enjoy the show. She said anyone who is really interested in a different kind of circus, or a different way to see a story, will enjoy it.

Free Falling is being presented from Thursday, Nov. 28 to Saturday, Nov. 30.

More information and tickets can be found here.